117K doses of Pfizer vaccines under COVAX to arrive by third week of Feb.

A representative of the World Health Organization to the Philippines said on Monday that 117,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer under the COVAX facility would arrive in the second or third week of February.

“The COVAX has promised that they deliver approximately 117,000 doses within the second or third week of February. These vaccines will be Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines,” Rabindra Abeyasinghe said in a press conference.

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Aside from Pfizer, 5.5 to 9.2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine would also arrive in the Philippines by the end of February or early March.

However, Abeyasinghe said AstraZeneca’s vaccine is still under evaluation for Emergency Use Listing (EUL), and the evaluation could be completed in two to three weeks.

“We are potentially looking at some quantity of those AstraZeneca vaccines also reaching the Philippines either late February or early March,” he said.

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An estimated 5.6 million doses of vaccine from -BioNTech and  are expected to arrive this mid-February, according to National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. yesterday.

The letter from Aurélia Nguyen, managing director of the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility, states that the Philippines will receive an initial 117,000 doses of vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech in mid-February for the first quarter. The company is set to confirm delivery for supplies in the next quarters of the year.

117K doses of Pfizer vaccines under COVAX to arrive by third week of Feb.

The Philippines will also receive from 5,500,800 to 9,290,400 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the first two quarters of the year.

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Galvez clarified that the number of vaccines provided in the Philippines is “indicative” and will depend on its global supply.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca to make their vaccines safe to use once the supply is available for the Philippines.

In November, Pfizer Inc. announced that it completed the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 and final results showed 95% efficacy.

Meanwhile, Food and Drug Administration () in the Philippines granted emergency use authorization () for ’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to FDA chief Dr. Eric Domingo last week.

According to Domingo, the vaccine from AstraZeneca developed with Oxford University has an efficacy rate of 70% after the first dose.